


Optimist (Irumatsu)

by ySoda (yrxole)



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Killing Game (Dangan Ronpa), Background Relationships, Dangan Ronpa Spoilers, Explicit Language, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Harold They're Lesbians Meme, I Tried, I'm not funny so sorry for that, IruMatsu, Iruma Miu Being Iruma Miu, Iruma Miu's Dirty Mouth, Lesbian Akamatsu Kaede, M/M, No Smut, Not Beta Read, Oneshot, background soudam, end of the world basically
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-05-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:55:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23984929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yrxole/pseuds/ySoda
Summary: " ‘H-hey! Knock that off!’, the girl stammered, pushing her hands away, confused to why her first interaction with this girl involved showing a lot more skin than she was used to already. Miu huffed, rolling her eyes. ‘Don’t be a little bitch, I’m not checking out your tiny tits. I gotta treat your injury’. "The world is kind of doomed, and a girl with a vulgar way of speaking and a lot of fake confidence meets the soft Kaede who can stay optimistic in the worst of times.
Relationships: Akamatsu Kaede & Saihara Shuichi, Akamatsu Kaede/Iruma Miu, Iruma Miu & Soda Kazuichi, Soda Kazuichi/Tanaka Gundham
Comments: 11
Kudos: 73





	Optimist (Irumatsu)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PeriwinklePorcelaindoll13](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PeriwinklePorcelaindoll13/gifts).



> A/N:
> 
> This was requested.  
> I usually don't write about girls, but you can probably tell I'm kind of a lesbian from this oneshot (oops). Anyway, t was fun writing this nonetheless, and of course I found a way to smuggle in of my favorite ships in here as well.  
> I also don't usually write this much 'sexual' humor but because it's Iruma I guess I'll have to live through it lol. Sorry if anything sounds a bit awkward.  
> Enjoy, I guess.  
> Also, I didn't get the chance to re-read this 'cause I was too tired, I'm sorry if there are more grammar mistakes than usual.
> 
> Warning: Vulgar language (thanks Miu), swearing, a little bit of violence but it isn't too bad.
> 
> Constructive critisism is welcome, but please don't be too harsh on me :)

Weren’t it for the weather changing from an average sunny heat to gray clouds dropping their load of water like they hadn’t in months, Kaede Akamatsu’s unconscious body might have stayed buried under the ravage that used to be her home forever. But fate was fate, and tiny droplets of water reaching her face made the eyelids of the girl flutter softly. 

As soon as the pianist regained consciousness, the scent of ash entered her system and made her cough out, as at the same time a cold breeze seemed to rip through her skin. She was aware of a stinging pain in her leg, as well as a pressure on her lower half. A bit shakingly she reached a hand to the floor, pushing her body up. At first she fell face first to the floor again, groaning quietly from the impact. Her second attempt was more successful. The piece of brick that had been laying on her while she was out of it fell from her back to the floor, creating a dull sound that hurt the girl’s ears; only then she noticed that they kept ringing, and her head was hurting. Still, she managed to stand up and straighten her posture a little, as her eyes roamed over the wreck that used to be her home. 

The walls that were still standing upright didn’t serve a lot of purpose anymore, as mostly half of the brick was already damaged and broken down. Everything was buried underneath a layer of ash (which explained the smell) and brick dust. Kaede was glad that she’d been laying on the first story of their house; as she looked above her, everything from the ceiling up was gone. There was a huge gap that made room for rain to enter her house and damage whatever hadn’t been damaged yet with water. If it weren’t for the plain blue carpet that she could recognize, she wouldn’t have known that she was standing in what used to be her living room. 

Akamatsu closed her eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath. She just needed a moment to think, was all. To think what to do next, what steps to take. Shaking hands found the way to her face, softly rubbing her cheeks like she remembered her grandma doing to her when she was little; it was a comforting gesture, which she associated to an _I love you_ without saying words. Despite getting her face a little dirty from what she presumed was a mixture of dust and perhaps even blood, she smiled a little. ‘That’s the spirit’, Kaede muttered to herself, before opening her eyes again. Instead of looking at the damaged place in horror, she looked at it with determination. 

Vaguely she could remember what happened to have the world get so far. The fact that meteorites were closer to earth now than ever before was all over the news at first, until it became common knowledge. It had lasted for maybe a year, the fact that the orbits of the space rocks had gotten closer to their earth, before people stopped being scared because of that knowledge. Nothing seemed to go wrong so far, so humanity felt like it had nothing to fear. How wrong they were: after a certain amount of time had passed and everything was yet the same as it was before this news disrupted the peace people were living in, there was nothing left to keep the meteorites away from their planet. Chaos ensued, and a mass destruction as big as this one had never been seen by the humans that walked human earth before. Knowing how many deaths were caused by these events, Kaede was lucky to be alive. Definitely after the fact that she had been laying here unconscious for a while now, judging by how dry her throat felt. 

Stumbling through the mess that was her former home, she managed to come to the dyed pink door that now sported dark dirty streaks. There was really no point for her to enter her room like she used to, as most of the wall that surrounded her room had broken down already, yet still she couldn’t help but to turn the doorknob and for a moment pretend like it was just another day in her never changing life. As she waddled to the center of the room, she noticed the difficulty she was having, and how the pain she had felt before in her leg wasn’t limited to the limb alone; she was hurt worse than she expected. ‘Just keep moving, Kaede’, she muttered to herself, coughing softly into her fist. Spotting her pink backpack, a smile again made its way onto her face. ‘Gotcha’. She kneeled, contemplating whether she wanted to get up or not after, but promising herself a better ending if she kept moving now. 

Thing was, she knew of course that she hadn’t far more left to go. So the least that she wanted to do was set a goal for herself. She wanted to play the piano once more, before anything else. 

Her backpack still carried a bottle of water she’d taken to school a couple of days prior to the incident, a remotely clean vest and some music notes. Switching her dirty vest with the pink one that had been in her backpack, she made her way outside of the house. The street wasn’t any better of course, and she was glad to know it was daytime, otherwise she might have seen nothing at all; it didn’t seem like streetlights were working at all right about now. With confidence yet struggle in her steps, the girl made her way over the street, avoiding fallen down brick and other suspicious looking objects laying on the road. It was quiet out, despite the noise that the rain made as it ticked down on the road and the objects it came in contact with. A bit reluctantly at first, but desperate to make the best out of it, Kaede decided to welcome that silence for now. It was like she had the whole world to herself, and despite that thought being scary, it comforted her knowing her mother didn’t have to see her like this: the woman would definitely make one or two comments about her current appearance. 

She almost didn’t recognize the streets she was walking down, but her eyes were set on one thing: the music hall. For some reason, most of the building was still upright, and it brought joy to the young woman. Moving blonde bangs out of her eyes to focus her gaze better, she kept on forcing her feet to move forward. Akamatsu hummed a soft song to herself that she remembered hearing on the radio a couple of days before, stepping inside of the music hall. The grand piano that she had always admired since being a little kid, was in the center of the room she walked into. Her eyes widened and if she could see herself right now, she knew they would sparkle despite the tired expression she must have been carrying. A lot of energy was drained from her, but still, she felt energized enough by seeing the beauty that this dark piano was. A dark wood, varnished to perfection, with perfect white and black tiles for her to erupt the most beautiful noises from the instrument. 

The tired girl took a seat at the little poof that was placed for the pianists to be comfortable, as her hands were placed on these white tiles. Not paying mind to the dark and somewhat red smudges that formed on the clean instrument as she swiftly moved her fingers, her eyes closed instinctively. The song she was playing, she couldn’t remember the name of for some reason, but it was the first one she was ever proud of to learn to play. No matter how tired her limbs became, and no matter how harder it became to open her eyes once more, she continued playing. The sweet tunes of the piano filled her ears and her senses, and she felt like she was in a different world. The constant smell of fire and destruction was no longer a problem: the comfort of her music was all she really needed. Yet everything came to an end, and so did the song. 

What she didn’t expect though, was to hear someone clap. Her eyes sprung open and Kaede jumped in her seat, to be met with the sight of a girl she vaguely recognized. If she remembered correctly, this girl went to the same high school as she used to go to; she’d seen her in the halls before.

Very light pink hair that reached to the small of the girl’s back, seemed soft in contrast to the expression and stance of the woman. She wore a strange yet interesting outfit, mostly pink, a skirt being short on her and a shirt that could have definitely been a size bigger, but Kaede supposed that must have been a choice of style as well. She was taller than herself, and seemed overly confident, something that was proven when she spoke up in a rather vulgar way. ‘Wow, sourtits! For someone with a chest as flat as your brain is, you get some pretty tunes out of that old dunk!’. Her voice was loud and echoed through the hall, reaching the pianist easily. ‘Uh… thanks, I guess?’, Kaede answered unsure of if she just got complimented or not. 

In a few strides, the pink haired woman was near Akamatsu, and instinctively she took a step back herself. This only placed another grin on the face of the forward girl, as she grabbed a hold of her arm. ‘Chillax, I’m not gonna bite ya. Unless you want me to, bahaha!’, her voice roared a laugh, and even though it was somewhat obnoxious, it had a comforting tone to it. After finishing her sentence, the strange girl seemed to study Kaede’s body, and a tiny blush crept onto the latter’s face as she did. It wasn’t a very… subtle way of checking someone out, after all. However, soon Akamatsu was proven wrong with what she thought the girl was actually doing, when she retrieved a box from her own backpack. ‘Oh, right. Uhm, the name’s Miu Iruma, and I’m the gorgeous girl genius that’s gonna treat those fuckin’ flashing wounds you got there!’. True to her words, bandage was taken out of the box, and without a warning Kaede’s shirt was pushed up. ‘H-hey! Knock that off!’, the girl stammered, pushing her hands away, confused to why her first interaction with this girl involved showing a lot more skin than she was used to already. Miu huffed, rolling her eyes. ‘Don’t be a little bitch, I’m not checking out your tiny tits. I gotta treat your injury’. 

With a bit of reluctance from the pianist’s side, her wounds were treated more carefully and softly than the words of Miu that still roamed the place. Patched up, she did feel better, and a grateful smile played on her lips. ‘Thank you so much, Iruma!’, she exclaimed joyfully, although her gleeful expression turned into a confused frown when this made a huge blush appear on the self proclaimed genius’s face. ‘A-ah, yeah, don’t fuckin’ sweat it… didn’t catch your name’, she muttered, her eyes not meeting Kaede’s. ‘Oh, sorry! My name’s Kaede Akamatsu, nice to meet you! I haven’t seen anyone else around in town yet, so I’m glad to know someone else is alive at least’, Akamatsu smiled, her hands folding together in a polite manner. 

‘Well, lucky you; you’re not alone out there. Me and some other bitches have made camp somewhere nearby, hidden away from society and all that jazz? I mean, I don’t really ask anything about it, but it feels bad to hide my gorgeous face from the world, you know?’, Miu’s hands were placed at her hips as she exclaimed this, a determined glint in her eyes. Instead of sounding like a stuck up asshole that she probably seemed to everyone else, this ripped a soft giggle from Akamatsu’s lips. It was obvious that this reaction piqued Iruma’s interest, as her straight posture relaxed a little when she again studied the girl in front of her. ‘You sure are confident’, Kaede noted with no malice in her voice, earning another grin from the inventor. ‘Yup, I sure fuckin’ am, princess!’. ‘But- you said something about others and a camp, so you guys have some sort of base? Could you maybe take me there?’, the blonde asked, now a little more serious. If there indeed were more people alive, Kaede would want to find them and hopefully be accepted to live among them. Alone out here she wouldn’t last more than a couple of days, so it would be great if she could go to this so called safe place. ‘Sure thing’, the pink haired girl nodded, although she stopped to think for a bit. ‘Although I hope you don’t mind having to wait here for a little while, cuz I actually gotta do some things first. Go some places, y’know?’. 

‘Well, then take me with you’, Kaede said simply, a small smile on her face. ‘I like adventures! And I’m sure you could use some company!’. Again, the girl looked pleased and troubled a the same time as she blushed a little, twirling a strand of hair around her fingers. ‘O-of course you’d like to accompany me, duh’, she huffed quietly, but the quiver in her voice made it lose its power. However, this flushed and flattered look soon changed in concern as she checked the shape the pianist was in. ‘Well, I dunno, but it doesn’t seem like a great idea. Since you’re hurt and all’, she explained herself, and Akamatsu quirked her brow challengingly. ‘Are you worried about me?’, she asked teasingly, and the inventor’s eyes widened as she expected them to. Apparently this was indeed the right approach: Kaede could tell as much, and she already knew enough about the girl’s mannerisms from the short period of time they now had known each other. ‘N-no, ‘course not, who do ya think you are, titless?! Well then, join me, see if I fuckin’ care’, Miu retorted defensively, folding her arms together over her chest with a small pout. With a grin Kaede slung her backpack that she’d placed next to her on the floor before back over her shoulders, holding onto the straps. ‘Alrighty-then! Show the way!’, her cheerful voice sounded, and the inventor rolled her eyes a little, but from the corner of Akamatsu’s eyes she could see her smile a little as well: Kaede knew her optimism could be infectious sometimes. 

The taller girl marched to the exit of the music hall, and Kaede followed suit, taking the time to take in what was around her now instead of focussing fully on the piano she loved. The walls were old, the place wasn’t as clean as she thought it was when she first set foot in here, and it was sad to know that there weren’t going to be many people to play music in here anymore. When Akamatsu was on her way over to the music hall, she had tried not to pay mind to it since it was horrifying to know, however, she couldn’t escape getting glimpses of bodies buried underneath the debris that was left of the city. People she might have known if she hadn’t been that busy with her music all the time, she supposed. So perhaps it was better this way. 

It was still raining outside, but instead of feeling down about that fact, Kaede welcomed it. The music hall had been rather hot inside, and she finally had time to cool off because of the colder water. Miu seemed less excited about the weather, though, a gross look on her face as she retrieved some sort of rain coat from her bag which she put on. Hot pink as her usual attire, it made Kaede giggle softly, and shake her head when the inventor eyed her suspiciously because of this reaction. Kaede’s blonde hair stuck to her face, wet and heavy on her head that had endured enough after everything that happened so far, but still she kept up with the pace of the girl in front of her. There was no need to complain for her; it would only bring down her optimistic mood that she worked so hard for to keep all this time. Iruma was less optimistic as Kaede though, groaning softly. ‘Gross, my hair’s getting all wet, and not in a good way’, she complained, trudging through pieces of broken brick that were scattered across the path they walked. 

‘Where exactly are we going?’, the pianist asked as she skipped over some other rubbish that she couldn’t bother to identify for now. She quickly got used to the change of scenery around her, and it was nice that this was one less worry on her mind. Iruma’s soft eyes gazed into the optimistic young woman’s, and a small confusion was set in her gaze as she probably questioned how one could be so happy in these circumstances, but she decided not to comment on it. ‘Oh, just some old gas station nearby. It’s one of the only things that ain’t busted down yet, and I remember them having some good shit there’, Miu simply answered, luckily not too stubborn to explain things to the company she now travelled with. It was quickly obvious to the blonde that this girl isn’t used to travelling with company at all, since she didn’t bother to actually start a conversation afterwards, instead looking at her surroundings and keeping changes in mind. So Kaede took the task upon herself to keep them talking, so at least this whole ordeal wouldn’t be as boring and awkward as it was. ‘I’m not sure how long I’ve been out for, but when I woke up, a lot more was destroyed than I remember. Has anything changed since those… meteorites?’, Akamatsu asked carefully, hoping this wasn’t a touchy subject for the inventor. Luckily, it didn’t look like it was. ‘Nah, not a lot. World’s gone to shit, humanity is almost extinct, yada yada… all that crap. Oh, it’s probably good to know about one crazy ass chick, Junko Enoshima or whatever. I just call her garbage hooker, cuz that’s the impression I get of her. Anyway, she wets her panties for the despair or whatever, and it’s kinda annoying… let’s just hope we don’t come across that bitch any time soon’, Miu said, politely as ever of course, earning a chuckle out of Kaede which formed a proud smirk on her face. It wasn’t often that people appreciated her way of talking, so she decided that she already liked this girl. ‘Of course some crazy woman had to take advantage of the world ending…’, Akamatsu then muttered to herself, remembering the theories and books a friend of hers, Shuichi Saihara, used to read, that had plotlines like that as well. Even though the guy had always seemed more interested in crime novels, the occasional crazy story like that wasn’t anything he’d say no to either, and the memory made Kaede sigh softly. How many of her friends would she never be able to see again? Not like she had _that_ many friends, but still…Shaking her head again to rid herself of that negativity, she smiled a little at Miu. ‘Thanks for telling me!’, she said happily, and Iruma nodded once as some sort of _you’re welcome_. 

The walk didn’t take that long anymore, as they managed to calmly talk along the way; it was mostly Kaede cracking up because of Miu’s use of language, but that's besides the point. Soon enough the gas station came in sight, and the pianist recognized it from a time they stopped there with the car as they came back from a trip with her family. The neon letters that were usually lighted were now a black as of course electricity didn’t have to be used at a time like this. Still, Iruma ushered the girl forward, taking folded bags out of her backpack, with a grin. ‘I’m actually glad you decided to come with, Akamatsu, cuz even though I’m the gorgeous girl genius with a golden brain bigger than my fanbase, I don’t have superhuman strength and you’re gonna help me carry shit, ain’t that fun?’, she said, handing over some of the bags to Kaede, who without a single complaint took them. She wasn’t sure what exactly they were looking for, but she supposed that it was going to get explained to her soon enough. 

They entered the station, stepping into a part that was more like a shop. Aisles still filled with junk, the inventor grinned. ‘Good, just take whatever you can. Food first, other crap after, and be quick’, she called to Kaede as she ran down a specific aisle, keeping the plastic bag open and shoving in articles that were first neatly stacked together. Even though her conscience told her this was technically stealing, the blonde complied: it wasn’t like there were many people left to care about their actions at the moment anyway. So finding herself in an aisle that used to hold way too expensive food, she shoved the packages in her bag swiftly like she was instructed to, without any payment. This went on for a while, and the girls almost found a rhythm doing so: fill a bag to the brim, place it behind the counter that wasn’t used anymore just to be sure for if there were to come intruders like Miu cryptically told her. 

As Kaede had now stopped shoving good food in the last bag she was to fill, and complied with adding bandage and other hopefully useful things that the shop sold, a strange sound was audible coming from outside of the gas station. It almost sounded like an engine of a big vehicle, but that surely was impossible, right? Quickly looking over to Iruma, the frightened look that was on her face told Kaede enough: this wasn’t good. 

Hastily Miu rushed over to the girl, pulling her by her arm behind the counter. Making place for themselves, they found some sort of cupboard that was used what looked like for personal stuff, and after stuffing Akamatsu in there, the inventor followed, closing the door behind her. The wall in front of them wasn’t completely solid: there were some holes that were probably used for ventilation of some sort, big enough for Kaede to look through as she pushed up against the wall. Miu was pressed into her back as the space was pretty cramped, but that didn’t matter; even if her erratic breathing was somewhat of an annoyance. Even though the girl definitely came off as confident and brave, she now showed the complete opposite when she held onto the blonde as if her life depended on it. For a second there everything stayed silent beside that constant humming of an engine outside of the place, and the pianist managed to calm down. However, soon enough the door was thrown open and some conversation that had definitely started outside continued inside of the shop. 

The first person to step inside of the shop was a girl with short kept black hair, a white top and black bottoms that neatly fit her frame. For a second there, she almost seemed to come across as some polite office worker, but as soon as Kaede noticed she was carrying a wide arrange of weapons, she understood that probably wasn’t the right assumption. Followed suit was a girl with a deep shade of blue for her hair, that reached her to almost her legs. Glasses were placed on her pointy nose, and an uninterested expression sat on her face. There were a couple of men entering now, but they all seemed alike; the only thing that Kaede could really notice about them were their strange black and white suits. And then she walked in: the woman Akamatsu immediately supposed was their leader. Her hair, a soft pink that was dirtier than Iruma’s, was bound up in two big pony tails on the sides of her head. She wore an outfit that reminded the pianist of some of the punk kids that went to her old school, and the hair clips that kept her hair in place resembled the same stuffed toy of a bear the girl was holding in her arms. Now that Kaede had a good look at it, she saw that this bear was half black and the other half was white, the same as the outfits of her workers. It was a strange team of people, that was safe to say. 

‘Th-that’s Junko, that b-bitch’, Iruma wispered shakingly into Kaede’s hair as she also peeked over with her, glad that the people didn’t seem to notice them in there. Even though Akamatsu already supposed so by looking upon the group of people, it still came as a shock to her. As far as Miu had told her, Enoshima was the leader of a large group of people that actually had survived and decided that they liked the world being destroyed like this. Chaos and despair was something they longed for, so they were glad to know that there were other groups of people still alive that could make their lifes a little more interesting. So the pianist was a little baffled; what did a woman like that need from a shop like this, at a gas station out of all places. ‘She must have known…’, the girl that was stuck in this cupboard with Akamatsu muttered quietly, her breathing still not calmed down as far as the blonde could tell. And surely, only short after, Kaede saw something that confused her more than just the woman being here. 

She set the place on fire. Boom. Just like that. And then, after watching the aisles burn for a while, their gang left, happily chatting and laughing. 

The glow of the fire that was close to them hit Kaede, and she frowned, a gasp setting on her lips. ‘Wh-what? I don’t understand, why would she do that?’, she asked Miu, who didn’t dare to look at Kaede. It was as if she understood yet didn’t want to understand, and honestly, it was kind of sad to see. ‘We need to get out of this shithole’, Iruma told her, kicking open the door of the cupboard and exiting the place. They were glad to see that the bags they had already filled were fine, and Miu again kicked open some window, since going out through the fire wasn’t an option. Proudly she showed Kaede the sharp objects that were made to her shoes, especially for that purpose. 

Kaede pushed herself through the broken window, wincing quietly as some glass cut her in less pleasant places, but she went through with it. She could just see a big horde of cars speed away, not using the high way as it was supposed to, and a frown again set on her face when she took the bags that Miu handed her through the open window, before the light pink haired girl herself also made it out of the gas station. ‘Why would she ruin this place more than it already was?’, Akamatsu asked confusedly, again pushing bangs out of her face as she huffed softly. At least her clothes had somewhat dried since she was inside, and they didn’t stick to her body that much anymore. The rain outside had stopped, and the weather was clearer, which seemed to make Iruma at least somewhat happy. ‘Don’t pay too much mind to that bitch’, Miu said calmly, placing her hands on her hips as if saying this was somewhat hypocritical, which Kaede supposed it was. ‘She probably knew this was one of our regular sources of food now, and wanted to destroy that. I don’t fucking know how she thinks, dude, but she has some sorta kink for the chaos that this world is in now. Wouldn’t be surprised if she knew we were actually in there, sick bastard’, the girl huffed grumpily, an annoyed look setting on her face. Akamatsu blinked, still watching the cars leave in the distance, and the inventor followed her gaze, with a soft sigh as her expression relaxed. ‘But hey… don’t worry about it, ‘kay? There’s some good people out there still, don’t let one bimbo ruin the fun for ya’, she nudged the pianist next to her, and even though she was a little embarassed to be giving the peptalk, she still smiled. Gratefully, Kaede placed her hand on the girls arm and squeezed softly. ‘Thanks, and just one… _bitch_ isn’t gonna bring my mood down, don’t worry! I’m an optimist at heart, and I’m sure with you everything will go just fine for us’, she laughed brightly, and luckily, so did Iruma afterwards: ‘that’s good. Now carry these bags with me, titless’. 

As the girls again started walking, Kaede quickly noticed that they were walking the opposite way from where they came, and she turned to Miu. ‘Anywhere else we need to be?’, she asked, as she wanted to be informed of her adventures first of course. As the blonde recalled, the inventor did speak of multiple things she still had to do before returning to their safe place. ‘Oh, right’, Miu realised that she hadn’t told her anything about their next adventure yet, ‘well, I kinda need to find out if Kazuichi Soda is still alive. He’s some mechanic down town, and he’s probably the only one that knows how to help Kiibo’, Iruma said, and even though the names didn’t make sense for the pianist, she understood that it was kind of important. However, as soon as Kaede set another step, she winced and yelped, allarming the inventor who turned to her and stopped walking. Akamatsu was still hurt after all, and the glass she’d gone through wasn’t great either; something seemed to be stuck in her foot, and it hurt like Hell now she walked on it. Rushing over to the girl’s side, Miu transferred the bags she was carrying to her left arm as her right hooked underneath Kaede’s, helping her stand up. ‘Can you walk like this? It’s not that far from here’, the inventor asked, genuine worry in her voice, making Akamatsu smile gratefully towards her. ‘Yeah, thank you. A lot’, she thanked her, and with a small blush on her face, the girl rolled her eyes with a ‘pff, it’s nothing, it’s not like I haven’t carried many virgins before and you sure won’t be the last one’. At least Kaede could now kind of understand that she didn’t mean all that, and thanked her again anyway, even if it was just to see that embarassed expression of the young woman. 

As they continued on their path, staggering a little under the weight, Kaede made sure she complimented the pink haired girl often so she kept getting more defensive, which was to be honest pretty funny. Luckily for the girl she realised soon enough, and started talking about something completely different: the place that everyone else was staying at. Miu talked about the people she knew in there and people she just met, as if it were her family. Even though she noted multiple times that the people didn’t all really like her, she was glad to be with them. It was a talented bunch for as far as Akamatsu could gather, and she couldn’t wait to meet them either. This Kiibo that Iruma had been talking about, apparently had some robotic parts to make up for injuries. However, Miu could only do as much for the robot, and he was in desperate need of an actual mechanic now that something was wrong with one of the parts. Even with the crazy stories from the self proclaimed genius, Kaede felt like they lived in a wonderful place already, although Miu also told her it was still under construction. And so, even though the world was basically ending, Kaede managed to stay optimistic about something at least. 

The two came to a halt in front of a house… or at least what once had been a house. There definitely still was a garage, but the amount of brick on top of that suggested that there were at least two stories of the house completely destroyed. A shudder ran through Kaede’s body at that thought, and a little hesitantly she held onto Miu’s wrist when the girl called out the mechanic’s name. ‘Kazuichi? You in there, dude?’, Iruma called for him, not that subtle, but it had to do. Edging closer to the garage, they heard some noises coming from inside there, and a hopeful feeling filled them. ‘Soda? Is that you?’, Miu again asked, and slowly the shutter garage door opened. However, at the sight that they were met with, Iruma frowned a little. ‘Wait- you’re not Kazzie, are you? Like, ‘m pretty sure that Kaz is out of his emo phase already and shit, and he’s definitely not taller than I am’, Miu said with a quirked brow, as the guy looked at them in discomfort and suspicion. 

The dude they were looking at was somewhat… intimidating. His black hair with grey streaks fell over his face, but didn’t completely hide his rimmed eyes that stared at them, fully alert, the darker eyes in contrast to his pale skin. A bandage was wrapped from his left arm all the way to his fingers, and some part of it was probably hidden under the sleeve of a dark long coat that he was wearing. As he spoke up, his voice was deep and somewhat confusing. ‘Mortals, why did you travel to this protected realm of the Tamer of Automations, and what for have you concluded journeying here was a wise descision? Do you seek for a battle, since if that is so, I will have to inform you of my status as The Supreme Overlord of Ice-’, the dude started rambling somewhat, although it felt more like he was chanting some verse from a strange vilain movie. ‘Honey I don’t know what you are saying or trying to say, so I’ll make it easy for ya, ‘kay?’, Iruma interrupted him with anything but a patient look on her face. ‘Do you or do you not know that pink haired virgin that goes by the name of Kazuichi Soda, cuz we kinda need to speak to him and we don’t have time for your bullshit’. Kaede would have facepalmed herself if she didn’t carry bags in both her arms, the baffled look on this strange man’s face telling her enough. Soon a frown set on his face and he folded his arms over his chest defensively. ‘Do not speak to me that way, you lowly earthly creature!’, the guy roared, making Miu snicker. ‘Gundham, I thought I told you _not_ to scare off the door to door sellers’, they heard a higher voice from inside of the garage, that neared them. 

The guy, whose name was apparently Gundham, shot a glance over his shoulder as he started to speak again. ‘These are not the Lady of Baked Goods and Lord of Ingestable Liquids, my paramour. These fiends are requiring a meeting with you’, the guy said, again making Miu crack up, and he send a nasty glare her way. ‘What’s going on here- wait, Miu?!’, the voice spoke up, and a guy appeared in their sight that was wearing green overals, his hair dyed a bright pink and sharp teeth adding to a grin that immediately set on his face by the sight of the girl. Kaede didn’t know that they knew each other, although it should have been fairly obvious by the fact that they were using each other’s first names. Luckily, Gundham also seemed not to know about this. ‘You are familiar with these mortals?’, he asked quietly as he turned to Kazuichi, who gave a simple nod, before turning to Miu and taking her in his arms, a hug and smiles on both of their faces, making Kaede feel a little warm. It was a cute reunion alright. ‘Ah, I knew you were still gonna make it no matter what, Kazzie’, Iruma grinned and patted his back, as Kazuichi chuckled softly, probably used to her antics. ‘Same goes for you, Iruma. I don’t think the world could kill you even if it wanted to’, he said, a fondness apparent on his face. ‘You sure got that fuckin’ right’, the girl retorted in a fashion that Kaede now was also used to, and she chuckled softly. This however made her presence known to Kazuichi, who cleared his throat softly and stepped back from the other girl. ‘And uh- who’re you?’, he asked, carefully. Even though his appearance was a lot, it seemed like that was all just a trick to make him seem tough; he was already hiding a bit behind the taller edgelord in front of him. ‘Oh, I’m Kaede Akamatsu, nice to meet you! Iruma found me’, Kaede swiftly explained, extending a hand for the guy to shake. As Miu threw an arm over her shoulder, the dude relaxed visibly, and took her hand. ‘the name’s Kazuichi Soda, nice to meet ya too’, he said, somewhat strained but with a polite smile nonetheless. ‘And who’s freakshow over there?’, Miu cackled, rudely pointing at the guy. Kazuichi eyed the boy next to him and by the look on his slowly reddening face, he gulped quietly and grabbed onto his arm. The man visibly relaxed, watching Kazuichi with a softer gaze. ‘This is Gundham Tanaka, my uhm… ah, my boyfriend’, Soda muttered the last part, blushing a bit when Iruma gasped and cheered, laughing right after. 

Introductions being done and some small chatting, mostly Kaede listening to Gundham go on about whatever and the two old friends catching up a little, the girls were invited inside to talk further. Although Tanaka seemed a little reluctant to let them in at first, he didn’t tell Soda off when he invited them anyway. The inside of the garage was as Akamatsu expected it to be, although there were some big differences. Like the part that was obviously improvised to serve as a new home, since Kazuichi undoubtatly used to live in the space that was on top of the garage and was broken down. ‘Me and Soda used to be like, besties in midde school’, she was startled by the voice of Iruma behind her as she eyed over some disassembled car that was standing in the open space. Kaede smiled a little bit nonetheless, and chuckled softly. ‘I could gather as much… you two were really close?’, she asked, placing a hand on her hip as she rested mostly on her left foot not to disturb the hurt one too much. Miu grinned. ‘Close as ever, we overshared a lot’, she told Akamatsu, and there was no doubt in the pianist’s mind that this was definitely true. 

‘Kazzie, get your ass over here!’, Miu called to him, and Kaede smiled a little to herself as she faintly heard the boy apologizing for her behaviour to his partner before showing up behind th car that Akamatsu was looking at. ‘Sup?’, he asked, folding his arms together. He wasn’t that great with new people it seemed, but at least he was learning. ‘We came here to talk to you’, the pianist took upon herself to start the chat, and luckily she seemed to be doing just fine. ‘Yeah. You remember Kiibo?’, Miu continued, and Soda grinned, his sharp teeth showing. ‘ ‘course, how could I forget mister robot? How’s he holding up? Still suffering from the time we tried to add more vulgar language to his system?’, the pink haired male asked, his tone turning a little more worried at the last part. It only made the girl laugh luckily, and Kaede couldn’t help but to imagine the two sneaking into the poor kid’s dorm at night to add something special to his system. ‘Nah, that’s not the problem. Thing is, Kiibo’s kinda in need of help. Some of his parts are damaged and all that crap, and I dunno how exactly to help him’, Miu mumbled the last part, scratching her neck sheepishly. As far as Kaede could tell, she didn’t like having to admit her weaknesses, so this was probably not a great thing for her. However, judging by the fact that these two used to be best friends as Akamatsu had kind of gathered, perhaps she was more confident having to admit things like that to Soda. ‘You need me to take a look at him? That’s cool with me’, Kazuichi quickly told her so she wouldn’t have to explain more, and Miu looked at him gratefully. Then, her attention turned to Kaede, and she slung an arm around the girl. ‘So, you got anything to eat around here? We’re fucking starving man, and the only shit we have is basically not ours to eat’, she complained, pouting at Soda. Now it made sense why they had to take so much food; after all, there were probably many people to feed back at their base. 

Even though at first he came across as somewhat strange and maybe even mean, the girls soon were to find out that Tanaka was a good cook after all, even if he refused to cook meat. Something about loving animals, Kazuichi explained. They chatted over dinner with the two, and Kaede actually enjoyed their company, just as Miu’s. In no time it was getting later, and Iruma looked at a watch that was placed around her wrist. She sighed softly. ‘Maybe it’s best if you guys go today, you still remember the base?’, she asked of them, and Soda nodded. It wasn’t like he was never asked to go over there; he would have loved to, after all, but at the time something kept him from going. Now, looking over at Tanaka, he nodded once, and Kazuichi grabbed backpacks that the two had already prepared for if something like this were to happen; they’d probably be staying at the safe place as well. At least it looked like the two didn’t have a lot of food left for themselves anyway. Iruma took a necklace that hung under her shirt, and ripped it from her neck, before handing it over to Soda. ‘There ya go, for if they don’t believe you’re not a Depair and that shit, just show ‘em that’, Miu explained, nodding towards the piece of jewelry. The two guys thanked her, even after the girl asked them if they could maybe carry the bags of food the two had stolen back to the base, since Iruma didn’t feel like carrying it for her last mission. 

The two left, Kazuichi hugging Miu goodbye and telling them they could stay in the garage for the night if they would close it off the next morning, and both girls thanked them in return. Although it was a little strange for Akamatsu to sleep somewhere she wasn’t used to, it still didn’t take long for her to fall asleep in the improvised bed she shared with Iruma. Even if that girl did take up a lot of space for herself, claiming the gorgeous girl genius needed a lot of room for her… whatever Kaede didn’t want to repeat in her head. She surely was _something_ , Miu Iruma. 

* * *

Kaede Akamatsu woke up to a soft ray of sunshine shining in her face, but this was no problem, as she always imagined this was just the sun’s soft touch. Her waist felt somewhat heavy: somewhere in the night the inventor curled up to her and wrapped her arm around the girl. Even though Kaede didn’t know her that well, she felt at ease with the girl, and a soft smile again made it to her face. It was nice to wake up like that, she decided.   
  
Slipping from Iruma’s hold and out of bed, Kaede put her shoes and vest back on that she’d disregarded the evening before and searched through the cabines in the place for something she could use as a breakfast. To her suprise there were some eggs left, and something that resembled bread to put them on, so on the improvised stove that she was pretty sure Kazuichi managed to create himself from scrap, she made food for the both of them. Luckily the scent woke Miu up, and with a yawn she sat herself on top of the counter, watching Kaede. She acknowleged her at first with a hum when Iruma told her good morning, although when she glanced to her side, Akamatsu’s face went red. ‘M-miu, put on some damn clothes!’, the girl squeaked, and even though she could definitely see a blush on the light pink haired young woman, she laughed in response, sliding off the counter. ‘What, you can’t handle the body of a goddess, Kaede?’, she asked with a quirked brow, and hopefully threatening Kaede pointed the spatula she was holding. ‘Put some clothes on, I don’t need to see your underwear, you flirt’, she tried to sound a little offending so the inventor would catch her drift, but it only cracked the other up. Luckily she did listen, and put her usual attire back on. 

Snacking on what the pianist had made, Iruma moaned happily. ‘This is like, really good!’, she told her, although it came out like ‘ _thwis ib like, weally goowd!’_ since her face was stuffed with the eggs. Kaede grinned a little, proudly sitting up straight. ‘Duh, they don’t call me the ultimate wife material for nothing’, she joked, and Miu nodded, probably fully believing in that title. 

‘So, you said there was one last mission you had?’, Akamatsu asked carefully when the last piece of food had disappeared into the blonde’s mouth. ‘Ah, yeah. This one’s a little tricky though, if ya wanna stay here, that’s fine’, Iruma warned her, but Kaede shook her head. She was confident in herself, and she knew she could do it. Besides that, during the morning she noticed that her leg wasn’t hurting that much anymore, so she wouldn’t be much of a burden either. And so far she was pretty confident in how she helped Miu, so she wanted to again go with. It was nice, really. ‘Well then. We have to go to a base were the despairs are keeping some dude named Chihiro Fujisaki. All I know ‘bout him is that he’s a crossdresser, so probably a kinky motherfucker like me’, she cackled, and Kaede rolled her eyes, urging her to go on. ‘Anyway, we need to scout the place and stuff, we don’t gotta actually save him yet. We’re pretty sure he’s not in that much danger, since he’s important to Junko and all that jazz for her plans’, Miu explained further, getting up and taking the backpack that she’d left behind for herself, slinging it over her shoulders. ‘And they seriously send you all alone on this mission?’, Akamatsu asked a little confused, folding her arms together. As far as she could tell, this could be very dangerous for the girl that was acting overly confident in front of her. So, if their base really had a lot of people, couldn’t someone have gone with Iruma? ‘No- no, don’t worry ‘bout that. I volunteered, since it was on the way and I knew Kazuichi already, I wanted some fresh air as well. They need all the people they can have back at the base to finish up making it truly livable, and even though Rantaro would’ve come with me, he was then asked to stay with Kiibo. There’s also some of us looking for food at other places. And we’re pretty sure that Junko isn’t sure how many of us are actually alive, so if there’s a way for us to keep people a secret in the base, we will, you know?’, Iruma explained, and Kaede supposed that made sense. 

‘Do you guys need this Fujisaki for anything?’, the blonde asked, now a little more curious, and Miu huffed softly with a shrug. ‘The Hell if I know. Well I mean, he’s good with computers, so I guess he can come in handy. There’s like three people that keep going on and on about wanting their friend back, and it’s fucking annoying, so we decided to do something about it. If you want the details you gotta ask Makoto Naegi when we get back, he’s kind of our leader to make descisions I guess’, the inventor told her, and that was that. Cleaning up and closing off after themselves as promised to Kazuichi, the two girls soon left the garage and stepped back into the outside world. The road to where they were supposed to go was a lot easier without the many bags of food they had to carry and the hindrance of Kaede’s injury; they stepped a lot quicker and arrived almost early according to Miu’s schedule. Perhaps the fact that it was almost a straight line and the base wasn’t hard too find with it’s over the top accesoiry and black and white theme also helped a little, but that doesn’t matter. However, soon something happened that they couldn’t have known. 

Apparently they weren’t the only ones hiding close to the base to inspect it, when gunshots sounded through the air. Both girls jumped up startled, and faced the direction this was coming from. There was one worker alone that the two immediately recognized because of the black and white pattern of their clothes; it was a Despair. While Miu cowered away, instinctively Kaede took action. The guy shot again but missed her, and the pianist took her backpack by the straps, before slinging it against their head. Since she was carrying some more products from the tank station that involved boxes with bandage in them etcetera, this knocked the guy out pretty easily. Just to be sure, Akamatsu took the gun he had on his body, before letting out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. Proud of herself, she sat back. Then she heard the tiny whimpers coming from Iruma. 

A crimson red ran from the arm of the girl, where she clutched it with her hand. Miu’s face was pulled into a pained frown, and she bit her lip harshly, cursing under her breath. She had been shot.   
  
Kaede gasped, and rushed to her side, searching through her backpack for the first aid kid they’d grabbed. Finding and retrieving it, Kaede also pushed the shirt of the inventor up by the sleeve, and luckily the girl seemed in too much pain to make a crude comment about it. ‘This is gonna hurt a little’, Kaede muttered, taking desinfectant and cleaning the wound first as Iruma hissed and struggled against her hold, although she stried to stay calm. Luckily the bullet wasn’t actually in the arm that deep; Akamatsu could immediately see it, and took her chances with a pair of tweezers that looked like it could do much. Being met with the sight of the instrument, Miu’s eyes widened and she scribbled backwards. ‘Geez, calm down’, Kaede huffed, a little more snappy since she was nervous, grabbing onto Iruma’s arm to still her. ‘Y-you try being shot, bitch’, Iruma hissed, ending in a yelp when Kaede swiftly took out the bullet. The bleeding only acted up more, and the girl supposed there would have to be stitches; it was a long and painful process with Miu yelping and biting back screams so they wouldn’t be too obvious for other possible guards that Junko Enoshima had standing around her base: they were already glad that they could hind behind bushes here. When Kaede was done and cleaned up with the rest of her waterbottle, Iruma still hugged her. ‘Thank you, man, I woulda died if it weren’t for you’, she said dramatically, and now with the tension gone from Akamatsu’s shoulders, she laughed softly, glad that her attention during biology class paid off in a way. 

Taking a moment to calm down from what had just happened later, their eyes roamed over the place to try and find where the guy could be. It didn’t take long to find; it was almost like Junko had placed him there for people to see, when they noticed the guy behind bars in some sort of extra cabin next to the base. ‘Of course she fuckin’ would’, Miu muttered to herself, ushering Kaede over to go towards the guy. Apparently the only guard that was around on this side of the building had been the one the pianist just knocked out; she supposed Enoshima didn’t think anyone would actually get out of their base to try and retrieve the guy. His hands were gripping bars that were used as some sort of window, and as soon as his eyes met the two girls, there sparkled hope in them. Iruma shushed him before he could say anything, and they tried to find a way to get him out of there; if there were no people around right now, they could at least try to bust him out, instead of leaving him here just to scout the place and report to Makoto whatever they could find. 

‘Wait, you’re fairly skinny right?’, Miu asked, taking out some strange object from her backpack, something Kaede didn’t recognize and supposed wasn’t that important either. ‘Duck!’, she then called, before ramming it in between the bars, moving it to the side; in some way, they bended the things outward, creating more space. ‘Can you fit your ass through there?’, Iruma asked, and only a small conformation was heard from the timid male as he crawled through the open spot, landing on his hands and knees on the floor, his skirt getting somewhat dirty from the mud outside but he looked happy nonetheless; he was finally out of there. ‘Chihiro Fujisaki, we’re Miu Iruma and Kaede Akamatsu’, the blonde smiled at him softly, but Miu was trying to be less of a softy towards him, as she swiftly continued with no remorse. ‘Yup, and now we gotta get you the fuck outta here, since these bitches have noticed our trick’, she allerted them. As the both looked to their left, they could see more people in the despair uniforms coming out of the building. The group of three now made a run for it, following Miu into some house that was near by. They took a moment to catch their breath, before Chihiro looked at them greatfully. ‘Th-thank you so much for getting me out of there’, he bowed to them, making Miu blush a little who probably had some wrong ideas while all Kaede did was smile warmly at him. ‘No problem!’. ‘Well, one problem’, Iruma corrected her, peeking outside of the window, ‘How the fuck do we get out of this place without being seen?’. 

‘We’ll figure that out later, firstly, are you hurt?’, Kaede asked the boy, who nodded once. He showed her where his injuries were and Akamatsu fixed those while Miu looked if she could get some water from the house since he looked thirsty; of course Junko didn’t take good care of her prisoners. ‘We could go through the sewers’, Chihiro’s tired voice spoke up. He was sitting on a couch that Akamatsu helped him onto, half laying against it, and sipping on a glas of water Miu managed to get him. Miu eyed Kaede with a worried and grossed out look, but the pianist, to her horror, shrugged as if she was considering that. ‘At least they won’t see us there. Fujisaki won’t be quick seeing his state and you neither since you just got shot, so if it’s the safest way, we should take it’, the blonde told them, and Miu couldn’t argue with that. 

That’s how the three made it to the back of the house where there was a way to the sewer, and climbed down, lucky that there was still a place they could stand that wasn’t full of dirty water. Although the boy was somewhat shy and timid, still he was a nice conversationalist; he seemed smart enough, and overall sweet. When Iruma mentioned the group of three people that kept asking for him, his face lit up, and enthousiastically he told more about the precious time he spend with who he called _Mondo, Taka_ and _Leon_. Although Miu was pushing her face into Kaede’s shoulder (she claimed that the girl smelled nice and the whole sewer stank, but the pianist assumed the inventor was just tired because of the events going on today and the day before), they didn’t slow down too much. 

Getting out of the sewer again was harder than it looked; apparently there weren’t as many openings as the group could have guessed, but they managed eventually. Returning to the music hall now, Kaede remembered how she turned up there before Iruma met her there, treated her wounds and took her with. It made her smile a little; even with the bad things that happened in the span of a day, she still had fun after all, and that was all that mattered. 

Walking through a part of the city that Kaede did recognize now felt strange, since everything was broken down like she’d seen it before. Chihiro also looked a little puzzled when they wandered through the streets, following Miu’s directions. She wasn’t lying when she said the base was close by; perhaps a fifteen minute walk later, they saw the tiny house that Miu had told Kaede to look out for. Getting in there, it led to stairs that lead to undergrounds. As she heard from the inventor, supposedly the people used a now empty subway as the beginning of their base, however, it was altered to be livable. Akamatsu wasn’t sure what she thought she would see once she got inside of the base, but it wasn’t the amount of people there were: The way Miu had spoken about this place had seemed like there were maybe fifteen others, yet there were at least forty people down there, all busy with their own thing. Almost all traces of the place ever being a subway were gone; it looked like a true underground base, made out of whatever anyone could find. 

Of course the girls got praised for taking Chihiro with right away, and Kaede was introduced to everyone, saying her hello to Soda and Tanaka as well although she technically knew them already. Although a face she never thought she’d see again turned up in front of her, and she gasped. ‘Shuichi! So this is where you’ve been!’, she said, hugging the boy who looked a little startled but happy nonetheless. She ignored the look Miu was giving them, and smiled brightly. Yet again she was reunited with her friend, and a warm fuzzy feeling filled her. Even when some purple haired little dude stepped towards them and asked, and she quotes, ‘ _What are your paws doing near MY shumai’_. It was a… strange meeting, with most of the people around. 

‘Will there be enough space for her, though?’, a girl with a ponytail and some red tracksuit jacket asked, thinking. It didn’t take all too long for Miu to respond with a ‘don’t worry, she can stay with me’, and Kaede looked at her with a smile. Gratefully, the blonde pecked her cheek. ‘Thank you so much Miu!’, she used her real name. And stammering, the girl responded that it was no problem. 

Kaede Akamatsu started a new life there, with new friends and eventually what she could call new family. Even though she knew that they were going to have to fight the Despairs someday eventually, that didn’t bring her down. She had it good now, and she couldn’t live in constant fear for that one day if with her friends and with Miu she could spend her days in a much better way. After all, Kaede was an optimist at heart, and even if it got her in tricky situations sometimes, it also always managed to get her out of them again as well. 


End file.
